1. Industrial Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous automatic apparatus for cleaning, draining and drying containers which apparatus can continuously supply, clean, drain, dry and take out containers whose outer surfaces have been stained during the previous manufacture process of container-filled products.
2. Prior Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 7758/1994 discloses a container cleaning/drying apparatus comprising: a supply mechanism for supplying reversed and laminated containers one by one onto a chain conveyor from a supplying lifter; a container transfer mechanism; a container cleaning mechanism; a draining/drying mechanism; a reversing/relocating mechanism for subsequently reversing the containers and laminating the reversed containers onto the lifter; and a taking-out mechanism. On the other hand, in connection with the container cleaning method, on a belt conveyor for conveying containers, the outer surface of the bottom of a container is cleaned in a half laid down state of the container. However, this method suffers from disadvantages that fine parts or details cannot sufficiently be cleaned and that the belt conveyor is submerged. Particularly, in a charging or filling method of continuously charging or filling a liquid material such as a healthy nutritious food with a high nutritive value, an enteral nutrient, or the like into a cylindrical roll, cutting and molding the roll into a container, whereby container-charged products are produced, there are such problems that it is difficult to clean cut parts, and that stuck residues escaping the cleaning are unhygienic and may stain the belt conveyor, and there are other problems with respect to product management and process management.
[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
It is an object of the present invention to develop an apparatus which can efficiently clean and completely remove the filler or content stuck, upon charging or filling a filler or content into a container, onto outer surface(s) of the container, bent part(s) of the container, cut surface(s) for molding the container and the vicinity thereof, in a short time during transferring the container, and momentarily can drain and dry the cleaning liquid.
[Means for Solving the Problem]
As a result of their intensive researches to solve problems, the present inventors have found that one of the problems can be solved by cleaning from below, the outer surface of the bottom of a container when the container is to be cleaned. For that purpose, the container transferring mechanism comprises a pair of right and left endless belts whereby containers are transferred with two side surfaces of each container being catched with the pair of endless belts and with the bottom surface of each container being exposed, during their transferring. They have further found that when cleaning nozzles, draining nozzles and drying nozzles are disposed from above and below containers in transfer, the dirt or stain on a container outer surface can be removed to such an extent that there is no problem in quality management. On these findings they have completed the present invention.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to a container-cleaning, draining and drying apparatus which comprises a transfer mechanism for transferring content or filler-charged or filled containers with the outer surfaces of their bottom being exposed, a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the outer surfaces of the containers during the transfer, a draining mechanism for draining the cleaning liquid, and a drying mechanism for drying the said outer surfaces of the containers.